A Bit Like An Orange

Part One And Only...

Commander Lopez gazed out the aluminium-lined window, watching as several members of his crew shrieked in pain. He pressed a small yellow button on the board in front of him, speaking into it.
"It appears to be unsafe." Lopez said in monotone, speaking to the crew who was supervising their journey from the International Space Station. "One of our coolers are malfunctioning and I'm unsure how close we can get before all hell breaks loose..."
A voice came from the speaker on Commander Lopez's left. "Sorry Rod, but I really don't think we'll need to fix it. After all, it is a suicide mission." His voice was sad.
"David, listen to me. We may be out of hotdogs but we aren't out of hope. Can we reroute the power to the thrusters and head into that sunspot?"
"It's a risky move, Rod... We can't be sure you'll make it,"
Lopez fought to keep his voice steady. "David. I could survive. We'll only get close enough to see the sunspot in action, I promise."
"You're a dirty liar, Rod," David sighed, "Rerouting power..."
The ship's thrusters whirred as they spun into action. Flying into the sun, David checked all the readings, determined for their crazy plan to work. Power stability. Check. Thruster Activity. Normal. Oxygen flow. Good enough. Shields. Failing. Dist- OH MY GOD. FAILING?
"ROD! Rod! The shields have failed!" David shrieked. "You've got to turn around!"
"David, calm down! I'll be fine. We'll all be fine. As long as we don't run into any asteroids or anything I'll get through this and I'll see Jamie again."
David's thumping heart slowed and he began to reorganise the pencils on his desk, by colour (obviously). "Okay. I'll just check the distance and surrounding area." He turned around and looked at the beeping charts on his desk.
"Rod," he said, his voice shaking. "There's a solar flare. My god, there's a solar flare."
"What?" Rod's soft brown eyes widened. "You gotta be kidding me."
"No. No. This is fine. Good. You can think of something. Some loopy plan to escape. You always do."
"Not this time, David. There's nothing I can do." Rod's voice softened.
"W-what?" David shook his head frantically. "No. You're gonna think of some, s-some crazy plan to get yourself outta this. It's gonna be fine. You are going to be fine."
Rod rubbed his forehead. "Y'know, sunspots are quite beautiful. I mean, it kind of looks like the sun has cancer, but I guess it looks a bit like an orange as well."
Heavy breathing came from the other side of the comms.
"I never thought it would look so dark. I know you can see it from the earth, but it's weirder here."
David was crying. Rod could hear him. "David, it's okay. I won't stop talking. I'm here. I'm here until it's o-"
Static came over the intercom, before silence took over.

***

Word Count: 490 words
A/N: Yup. That's it. There is nothing else, as far as I'm aware. I hope you enjoyed it. I would say it was sucky (cause it kinda was) but I don't want my friend to get annoyed at me.
Okay... bye.

Sincerely,
M.